Shrek The Musical Jr

So, where do you begin with a show report for a production that has a cast of over seventy members aged from 3-16 with split casts, many members playing multiple roles and an extraordinarily complex show. Well, the first thing I can say is that HC Vocal and Performance Academy did an outstanding job with their latest big scale show, Shrek The Musical Jr. Not only did the production give all their members a chance to shine but they also pulled on the amazing pool of talent available to them to show off some amazing individual performances and huge showcase numbers.

The production was incredibly slick with fantastic costumes; hair and make-up; bright and colourful innovative scenery; dazzling lighting and sound effects and a crew behind the scenes ensuring that the show moved along at a slick pace keeping the audience fully entertained at all times. 

Holly Clifford did an outstanding job directing this huge cast working closely with the principal roles to make sure they matched characters we all know so well, choreographing a stage full of energetic dancers and carefully managing this huge cast in a Theatre with multiple entrances and working with her army of parent helpers to ensure everyone was in the right place and in the right costume at all times. From shrieking Donkey entrances to clever life size books housing the Ogres all the clever detail really worked exceptionally well.

Managing the Music side was Robert Wilson Baker who really brought out the best of the company with some strong powerful chorus numbers, great individual vocal work and showcasing some lovely harmonies that really shone through with both casts. 

It is always difficult putting on a Musical that mirrors a film where we know the story and characters so well. The detail needs to be so accurate, and HC really did pull this off, from great solo performances through to great costume and wig detail and I know that everyone behind the scenes gave everything to ensure this was a success. From parent’s glueing on costume detail, the braiding of Fiona’s wigs right through to the detailed props that were sourced or made. Everyone pitched in to ensure the detail matched the wonderful performers.

Whilst we all know that the Shrek’s, Donkeys and Fiona’s are the well-known names in Shrek what gave this production the wow factor was the outstanding ensemble work. Almost everyone has an individual part, and every cast member gave everything to their role. 

Performing in both shows were a number of the younger HC stars as Nursery Tale characters and it is impossible to mention them all but please believe me everyone was brilliant, performing with beaming smiles and tremendous energy throughout. Huge standout mentions must be given to Jessica Karim who was an outstanding bum-wiggling rat; Lottie Clifford who shone as the Queen of Hearts and Freya Ward who was a brilliant and energetic manic White Rabbit. The little dwarfs were also excellent in all their cameo appearances. These younger members really put their heart and soul into the show and by mixing in the audience meant there was no way to hide any vocal weaknesses, and they did not disappoint. In fact, one young star, Olivia Grainger even managed to deal with a costume malfunction right next to me at the same time as showing off some beautiful vocals. 

Shrek Jr is brilliantly written to give so many people speaking and singing roles, and this really was the perfect choice for HC as it was not just the main roles that were shared but the smaller cameo roles and every single performer deserved their opportunity. 

The family of Bears and the Ogre family were excellently handled over the two nights by Amelia Hooper, George Richardson, Victoria Lightfoot, Summer Johnstone, Ellie Lofts and Millie Dickson and Betsy Coleman-Smith. The lead vocals in the opening number by the Ogre family were really strong and a brilliant way to open both shows, the main story expertly narrated by Eleanor Murray alongside other cast members.

Now although I was unable to see the mini HC stars on the matinees, I was lucky to have a schedule that allowed me to watch both casts on the evening shows so I will provide a mini-report on both main casts but before I do I must compliment the quality of the huge Full Cast showcase pieces. The choreography was fabulous, with the whole cast working together as one giving a dark side and feel to Forever, bringing great comedy and story-telling through Morning Person and really embracing their own characters in Freak Flag accompanied by their own home made flags to reflect their own passions and hobbies. (a great touch). I loved the Dancing Guards in the Duloc number and the flowers in the Travel song were genius. My favourite ensemble number had to be Make A Move, where although the cast were in one place the whole number, the simple struts and clicks and overall sassiness of the number provided the perfect backdrop to Donkey in this soulful number.

Friday Night Cast:

Shrek’s squatters in the swamp, the Nursery Tale characters were superbly cast and brilliantly portrayed by these Juniors. Eve Bradshaw as the Pied Piper, Peighton Temple as Gingy, Olivia Grainger as the Ugly Duckling, Freddie Dale as Peter Pan and Elliott Kerr as Wolf were all brilliant, delivering their lines with great confidence and giving us excellent characterisation. Freya Thompson as the Witch had a cheeky bossiness about her. Lily Riley was hysterical as Pinocchio, handling some quick script with a lovely squeak and really impersonating a puppet at ease. Her vocals were also brilliant as she led Story of my Life, a song which gave all these characters a moment to show off their solo voices. 

Some of my favourite characters in the show are the wonderful Bavarian speaking 3 Little Pigs and alongside the principals who doubled up in these roles was Izzy Wake who had a fantastic cheek and swagger about her.

Esme Giles was the voice behind the wonderful dragon with a powerful and soulful voice to match the flamboyant and skilfully worked huge dragon that worked its way across the stage. The Boos and hisses were reserved for the true baddy of the show Lord Farquaad who was played in excellent fashion by Lyla Appleby. Her handling of moving around on her knees and brilliant facial expressions matched a great personality and lovely voice. Despite being short in height, she was not in stature bossing her soldiers and her excellent Captain of the Guards, Olivia Mays around at ease. 

Our first introduction to Princess Fiona begins with the story of her time in the tower through her younger self and in the roles of Young Fiona and Teen Fiona were Lily Appleby and Gabriella Boddy. Both these two young actors shone in their vocals with a cheeky Lily giving us some real attitude in her book reading and Gabriella shining as Teen Fiona, really powerful in her delivery. The Three Fionas came together in the song I Know It’s Today, really nailing some tricky harmonies and holding some great notes.

Fiona herself was played by Amber Evans on Friday and Wow! what a performance, really understanding and showcasing off the Feisty and witty side of the characters. Her vocals were fabulous and the way she mixed with Shrek and Donkey was a joy to watch especially opposite Avea Calvert as Shrek in the hilarious number I Think I Got You Beat where the farting was on a new level!! Amber managed to handle every side of Fiona’s character with remarkable success and carefully balanced all the angles of the characters.

Also supporting Shrek on his journey was everyone’s loveable character Donkey played excellently by Zoe Hardy in her best role to date. The energy and scattiness was hysterical at times talking faster than her lips could manage such was her enthusiasm and commitment to the character. Her vocals in Travel Song and the way she led the cast was brilliant and I could have watched her all night. She was that funny.

In our title role was Avea Calvert in her biggest role to date and she really took the opportunity bringing the loveable Green Ogre to Life. She had such control in not only the character but also her vocals. The humorous way she interacted with Fiona and Donkey was excellent to watch. Involved for most of the show she never let her character drop showing off great vulnerability in the role over Shrek’s feelings for Fiona whilst maintaining great timing to the punch lines in the many jokes and throw away comments.

Saturday Night Cast:

The quality of the second cast equally matched that of the Friday night with many more stars getting the chance to show off their brilliant acting and vocal ability and it was great to see how nobody was copying each other, everyone brought something different to their roles. 

Excellently portraying their Nursery Tale Roles were Matila Best as Pied Piper, Seth Cohen as Peter Pan and Rose Shepherd really caught my eye as the Ugly Duckling. Amelia Hooper was an excellently screeching Witch, and the 3 Pigs yet again had amazing life and soul about them often stealing the scenes. 

Chloe Gowling was a lovely Pinnochio, I loved all the arm movements and with the extending nose really captured the character’s heart and soul. Lexi Thompson as Gingy was superb, dressed in a sparkling outfit carrying the large puppet, she had a lovely tone to her voice and delivered her lines excellently.

Lexi was not the only Thompson to deliver a brilliant performance as Alicia Thompson played the Dragon. An excellent vocal delivery and stunning range to her voice.

Isobel Shepherd as Captain of the Guards was tasked with keeping our evil Lord in hand and she carried off the role wonderfully acting as a great foil to Charlie Vart as the resident baddy. Charlie was excellent in the role, the beaming smile and naughty looks matching his underhand character. His performance in the many reprises of What’s Up, Duloc? Showing off a talented actor and vocalist.

Playing the roles of Young and Teen Fiona on the Saturday were Holly Neale and Isadora Davis. Holly really delivered on the youngster’s side with not only a strong acting side but some powerful vocals from such a young actress whilst Isadora showed great control in her lovely vocals coming together with Fiona in the number to deliver a powerful finale to the piece.

Playing the Princess on Saturday was Faith Small and what a wonderful Fiona she made. Giving us much more of a natural Princess and showing off a much softer side, it really worked. The vocal control and range to her voice was outstanding and some of the notes she held were wonderful. Her connection with Donkey and Shrek was ideal and the three of them worked together brilliantly throughout.

Talking of Donkey! What a performance from Leanna Honeyman in this role. She absolutely nailed every aspect of the character, from the cheeky comedy to the softer sulky side she managed it all at ease. The accent was fantastic as was the rise and fall in her voice both in script and in song. The song Make A Move not only matched her voice perfectly but also acted as a great platform for her to work her swagger. 

Talking of swagger, on Saturday night we had the fantastic Jacob Robinson as Shrek and what an excellent job this young actor did. I love the way he had a quite chilled out persona to his character which contrasted excellently when in a rage or showing his softer side. His accent was brilliant and a brave move for anyone to handle and his vocals in Big Bright Beautiful World were sensational.

Overall, I think it is fair to say that by seeing both casts perform I was utterly spoiled. I got to see Two outstanding casts not only play the roles but deliver them in their own manner and with their own sides to the character and it was great to watch. With so much copying, AI etc in the world it was a joy to watch young actors deliver a role how they saw it.

A huge thank you to Holly, Robert and all the parents and helpers for putting on such a fantastic production. I hope you are all taking a well-deserved break before getting stuck into Beauty and The Beast which I am sure will be another huge hit.

Well to summarise, I had my doubts over splitting such a huge cast into four shows and would it work effectively, but after two great evenings I can firmly say…… I’m a Believer!!

 

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